State and local agencies plan on assisting a combined 343 workers at three Orange County manufacturing plants who will be laid off this summer.
Eighty-eight workers at Frito-Lay’s PopCorners chip factory in Middletown – nearly one-third of the staff – are the most recent group to receive layoff notices.
Food container manufacturer Genpak informed all 138 of its workers in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN). The company blamed the shutdown on bans by some states against polystyrene food packaging.
Party supply creater Amscan also announced the layoffs of all 138 employees at its Newburgh location.
All three companies declared layoffs will launch in August.
Some business owners notified News 12 they expect the upcoming layoffs to significantly affect them.
“They come here real quick when they’re on break,” Italo Rebino, manager of Brother Bruno’s Pizza in the plaza next to Genpak. “You know, everybody’s always going to want pizza, but…we’ll see how things turn out.”
Orange County Employment and Training Director Steve Knob is confident his office can assist the affected workers. Knob declared at a the county’s most recent job fair, there were numerous employers clearly in required of workers with similar skills.
“Hundreds of openings out of those 104 employers, so there definitely is opportunity for these folks who are eventually going to be laid off,” he declared.
A member of Frito-Lay’s media services team notified News 12 in an email that the PopCorners plant layoffs are happening becaapply of construction projects on its Middletown property.
“Frito-Lay recently notified employees at its Middletown facility that construction scheduled to launch in September 2024 will result in a temporary shutdown,” the media services representative wrote. “When the facility reopens, it is anticipated fewer employees will be requireded for the operation of the facility.
Frito-Lay notified the New York state Department of Labor in its WARN form that the reason for the layoffs is “economic.” The company declared it will offer affected employees options to transfer to other Frito-Lay plants, including one in Liberty.
Frito-Lay will offer severance packages to workers who cannot transfer, the media services rep declared.
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